The Mage

by Inbali Iserles

I nodded slowly. Behind Métis, the branches of the blood-bark tree were swaying. Red sap ran over the gnarly trunk.

  The tree weeps. The foxcraft is complete. The Elders spoke with a single voice. We are pleached now. We are one. Until the pleach is broken, our gerra flows freely. The circle of our maa will not fade. Until the end of the gloaming, our maa will run through Isla’s blood. Our thoughts will join with yours. Though you enter the Darklands, you will not walk alone.

  “She isn’t alone,” said Siffrin.

  Jana looked at him with soft eyes. But the voice that replied came from all the foxes.

  Bold Siffrin, you are right. Look after her, and yourself. Together the Elders turned to Simmi and Tao. The young foxes watched them in wary fascination. You are all part of this now. Be shrewd. Watch out for the Mage’s tricks. Protect each other.

  “We will,” said Simmi shyly.

  The Elders looked up, their heads moving in harmony. It reminded me of the glittering wolf in the tundra, when the Bishar of Claw had woven together in the shape of a great beast. It is almost dark, they said together. The Taken will stalk the Wildlands. We must raise the shana one last time.

  We watched the Elders climb back onto the Rock. Brin, Kolo, Jana, and Shaya. Little Miko took great bounds to land on the gray stone. Métis was the last to step onto the Rock. I watched the amber light swallow him up.

  The blood-bark tree still wept, its dark sap trailing to the floor of the wood. Where it touched the earth, the beat of the gloaming seemed to grow stronger. My paws quivered with its intensity. It was all I could do to keep still.

  My body trembled with silver maa. “We must follow the path beneath the cliffs.”

  “I know the way,” said Siffrin.

  I turned to Simmi and Tao. “Are you ready?”

  “Ready,” they murmured.

  “Good,” I replied. We had a long way to go.

  I started to run.

  * * *

  Light flitted between the trees. Cicadas chirped, awakening the night. I ran east through the wood, my paws barely touching the earth. They moved with their own momentum. Only with an effort did I slow down to let Siffrin lead.

  We followed the red-furred fox, looping south below the cliffs.

  He knew the untrodden tributaries between the leaning trunks, and passageways long hidden by ferns. Sprays of blossom hung in the branches, already giving way to leaves and fruit. Petals littered the ground, silky against our paws. The earth thrummed with the beat of the gloaming.

  Musty heat hung in the Elder Wood, like the Elders’ breath against our backs, willing us on.

  I had to coax myself to stop running ahead. My paws scarcely grazed the earth, as though riding on air. From whiskers to tail-tip, my body felt limber and strong. I pulsed with maa. It fizzed along my spine and tingled my ears. Colors leaped to my eyes. The world was brighter. Sounds were sharper. I heard earthworms shifting under the soil, the flutter of a moth. When I strained my ears, I was sure I caught the distant gush of the Raging River, and songbirds landing on the shingle. Was that possible?

  We slipped through a tunnel of bracken at the edge of the Elder Wood. The bowing leaves closed over us. The earth was rich and damp. Eventually the bracken led to the stream, where we drank thirstily. Then we swam through the cooling water to the far bank.

  Siffrin started washing, smoothing out the fur of his glossy tail. As I shook my coat, Tao padded up to me. “Did you really meet wolves?”

  “Yes. Farraclaw leads a Bishar in the Snowlands.”

  “Weren’t you scared?”

  “I was terrified at first, but he helped me. He and another wolf called Lopclaw came with me to free Métis. Though at the time I thought I was looking for Pirie.”

  Siffrin dropped his tail. His amber eyes were troubled. “You must think I knew Jana’s plan, but she didn’t tell me anything. She probably guessed I couldn’t keep it secret from you.”

  “I know.” I had wasted too much time being angry with Siffrin. “It doesn’t matter now. I wouldn’t have gone if I’d known it was Métis, but I’m glad I did.”

  “Even though you saw wolves?” asked Simmi.

  “More so because of that!” My tail wagged as I thought of Farraclaw and Lop. “There are too many misunderstandings between our kinds. We only think about the differences that divide us. But we share a lot too.”

  “Like what?” asked Tao.

  Siffrin gave himself a shake and started between the trees.

  I nudged Tao with my nose. “Later. When all this is over, and we’re in a meadow in a beam of sun. When the world is at peace.” I hurried after Siffrin.

  “She means never,” grumbled Tao.

  The trees above our heads were different on this bank. Instead of thickset trunks there were slender firs swathed in ivy. The breath of the Elders was softer, but I still felt their presence. They were part of me now, in every pawstep I took, in every flick of my ears.

  The Elders spoke together, but one voice rose over the others. Métis, the Black Fox.

  Be on your guard. You are close now.

  “This is your home. Where you saw Liro.”

  I hadn’t meant to say the words aloud.

  “Liro. Of our skulk?” asked Simmi.

  I glanced at her. “I think he’s in the Mage’s lair with my brother.”

  “Why would he be there?” asked Tao.

  A sharp scent caught my nose and I swung back to Siffrin. He had paused up ahead and was sniffing the earth. His fur had risen along his back. I padded to his side. Yellow mushrooms with purple speckles were clustered on the forest floor.

  A chill crept over my fur.

  Up ahead, I saw more of the foul bulbs pushing up from the soil.

  “We’re still a ways from the Deep Forest,” whispered Siffrin.

  I drew in my breath. “Eye of gerra, inner-glance, share your secrets through my trance.” For an instant, I saw this land as it used to be, rich and wild, bursting with blossom and fruit. The image melted into the rotting remains of the Ghost Valley.

  The words that escaped my mouth came from Métis. “Not as far as you think. His realms are growing.”

  We walked slowly, our snouts low to the earth. The beat of the gloaming still rose from the ground, but it felt distorted, muffled by the clammy soil. I approached the nearest fir tree. Brown fungus sucked at its decomposing trunk. Several others were splintered or had toppled on their sides, as though struck by a storm.

  It wasn’t long before the firs petered out. Up ahead, there was open land that reeked of decay. A low mist seeped over jumbles of yellow mushrooms.

  “The Ghost Valley,” hissed Tao. “It’s come much further than it used to.”

  My head shot around. Had I heard the scrabble of claws over earth, long claws beneath a fox’s weight? I glared into the darkening firs. It was already dusk. The Taken wouldn’t fear to tread here. I watched a long time after the others had passed. They were gingerly treading between the mushrooms. The scrabbling had stopped. I turned back to the valley and followed.

  Dead shoots were silent beneath our paws. A thorn hooked onto my tail and I ripped myself free in a flurry of fur.

  “Be careful,” urged Siffrin.

  We made for the broken black trees of the Deep Forest. But as we came closer, a groan rose from their twisted trunks. My mouth stung with bile. The mushrooms swiveled their yellow heads toward us.

  Simmi and Tao had fallen behind. Only Siffrin kept moving, but his lurching steps betrayed his confusion. “What’s happening?” he mumbled.

  A dark sense warned me to look back toward the firs. A moment later, I heard the gekkers. The screech of the Taken cut through the Wildlands. They couldn’t be far—perhaps at the stream. They’d be here soon.

  Run, Isla. You mustn’t tarry in the Ghost Valley.

  The voice of the Elders echoed through me, but my mind felt foggy. I paused, sniffing the air. The scent of cinders prickled my nose. A vine slowly coiled around my foreleg. I kn
ew I needed to pull away but somehow I didn’t, my thoughts blurring.

  The gekkers ripped over the firs, closer now.

  My vision became hazy. Everywhere I saw yellow mushrooms. I looked over my shoulder in confusion. What was I meant to be doing? I couldn’t remember.

  A fox burst out from the firs. I knew instantly that he wasn’t one of the Taken. He moved quickly, head low, but with nervously twisting ears.

  He could still be one of the Narral, warned the Elders. Get out of there, start running!

  My jaw felt sticky, meshed together. I worked hard to free my voice. “Siffrin!” I warned as the fox approached. I tried to rear back but my paws were planted to the earth.

  Panic fluttered at my chest, but my body was frozen.

  “Blink!” yelped the fox as he ran closer. “Draw upon your maa! Breathe deep and slow. It’s a trap!”

  I stumbled backward in shock. A vine entwined itself around my hind leg. Haiki was running toward us, his gray tail bobbing. I hadn’t seen him since he’d fled from the Elder Rock—since he had betrayed me. Suddenly he was barking in my face. “Snap out of it, Isla! The Taken are coming! Do what I say if you want to survive.”

  I stared at Haiki, dazed. I wanted to pounce at him but I couldn’t seem to move.

  “I know I’m the last fox you want to see,” he said quickly. “But I’m here to help you. What you’re feeling isn’t real. The Mage calls it kia-sharm. It’s really just shana-sharm reversed, tu-shana-sharm. You’re being drawn into his trap!”

  Siffrin stumbled around to face the gray-furred fox.

  “Get away from me!” I tried to lift my forepaw but it was firmly woven to the earth by vines. I started to panic, tugging at my paws. The vines only gripped tighter.

  “Listen to me,” begged Haiki. “Breathe deep and slow, like you’re going to slimmer. Try not to panic. Tell yourself it’s a trick.” Haiki was whiskers away from my face.

  The Elders seemed to hear him through my ears. Their voices rose. The gray is right. It’s foxcraft.

  Siffrin snarled and shook himself free of the vines that were clutching at his paws. He bounded toward us. Haiki flinched, his ears flattened. But Siffrin didn’t attack the gray fox. Instead he set to work on the vines around my legs, gnawing and yanking.

  “You aren’t trapped,” he told me. “You just think you are. It’s like Haiki said, some kind of foxcraft.”

  “Breathe slowly, blink often,” said Haiki. “Remember, it isn’t real.”

  “Do as he says,” Siffrin managed between gritted teeth. He pulled the vines loose.

  “But Haiki lied,” I gasped. “He was acting for the Mage.”

  “Slow your breath, Isla.” Siffrin gave me a shove. I stumbled, my legs free. It’s foxcraft. It isn’t real. It’s foxcraft.

  My vision grew sharper. My mind became calm. I turned to Siffrin, but already he was running away from me to help Simmi and Tao.

  I met Haiki’s eye. “You.”

  His tail curled around his flank. “Why are you here? It’s so dangerous! This is the last place you should be.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “The Taken are coming.” I caught the whites of his eyes.

  I wanted to scream, What’s it to you? I wanted to tell him that he could rot. But I found myself saying, “I need to reach the Mage’s Lair.”

  Haiki’s open mouth was a rictus of fear. “But that’s in the heart of the Deep Forest.”

  Siffrin was bounding toward us, with Simmi and Tao close behind. The gekkers of the Taken split the air. Yellow dust hissed over the valley and I started to grow confused again.

  “I know the way to the lair,” said Haiki suddenly. “I’ve been there. I can show you.” Darkness crossed his eyes. “I’ve been there,” he repeated in a strangled voice.

  “Forget it!” I warned. “Leave us alone.”

  “Don’t be hasty, Isla,” said Siffrin.

  I stared at him in amazement. “You never trusted Haiki.”

  Siffrin’s whiskers bristled. “He was right about the foxcraft.”

  “No way!” cried Tao. “He led the Taken to our skulk!”

  “I didn’t know they’d attack,” Haiki whimpered.

  For an instant, the five of us were frozen, as through the vines had seized us all once more. Indecision gnawed at me.

  Shrill gekkers leaped over the valley.

  “You won’t find the lair without me,” said Haiki quickly. “But are you sure you want to go? The Taken swarm the red rocks and the Narral are always on patrol. There are swamps and—”

  “Take us!” I snapped.

  Haiki gave a quick nod. He turned and bolted into the Deep Forest as the red-eyed foxes arrived in the valley. We bounded after him. The branches arched over our heads and darkness filled the sky. The air was a heavy fog, thick with yellow dust. The slimy earth slipped beneath my paws.

  Pirie’s been here, I realized. The Taken dragged him through the forest on the way to the Mage’s Lair.

  I ran alongside Siffrin. I could only see a few tail-lengths ahead. The impulse to stop gnawed at me.

  It isn’t real. It isn’t real!

  We tripped on fallen branches. Behind us, I heard Tao curse as he bumped into a tree trunk. Only Haiki ran with assurance, as though the foxcraft didn’t reach him.

  Perhaps it doesn’t.

  I remembered my first visit to the Ghost Valley. While I’d frozen, bewildered, Haiki had seemed untouched by the valley’s grip. He’d found it impossible to slimmer, but he’d been the first to identify the foxcraft in others. On the rainbow cliffs, he’d guessed the enchantment.

  Was he using this skill for sniffing out foxcraft to lead us to the Mage? I was haunted by the memory of his betrayal. Remembering how I’d led him to the Elder Rock, my legs lost their footing.

  “Don’t stop,” urged Siffrin, “the Taken are behind us!”

  I picked up my pace. I could sense them, the thump of their paws.

  “This way,” whispered Haiki. He cut sharply between two bowing trunks. Thorny bushes sprang to block our way. He edged along them, sniffing. Finding a gap, he scurried under. We dove after him.

  We shuffled low, our bellies brushing the slimy earth as thorns grasped our tails. My thoughts raced, but I forced my breath to slow down. Haiki was right: it helped to block the Mage’s enchantments.

  We crept out from under the bushes and ducked into a massive, hollowed-out tree trunk. In the cool chamber, we cowered in darkness. My ears flicked forward and back. I could still hear the Taken, but their pawsteps were fainter now.

  For a time, none of us spoke. A groan rolled through the forest with the dust. No birds sang in the branches, no insects chirped on the forest floor.

  “This is a dead place,” I said quietly.

  Siffrin huddled close beside me. The musky scent of his fur seemed to ward off the acrid trees. “The Marshlands are like this now. It’s how all the Wildlands will be if the Mage succeeds.”

  “It’s true.” Haiki’s voice was soft. “I let him use me. I wanted my family back … But what I did …”

  “I hope it was worth it,” I hissed.

  His eyes flashed in the darkness, then his muzzle sank. “No,” he whined. “It wasn’t. All the time I was helping him, my family were already dead. They weren’t even pleached. Koch killed them.”

  I drew in my breath.

  “He’s the one who attacked our skulk,” spat Tao.

  Haiki sank to his belly. “I couldn’t believe what he’d done. I should never have gotten involved.” His muzzle dropped. “I was a coward … I was too scared to stand against them on my own.” His eyes flicked up, then down to his paws. “Isla, please don’t hate me. The Mage made me spy on you. He said he’d free my family. He promised he wouldn’t hurt you.” His paws crossed over his eyes. “I know none of you will ever forgive me. I wouldn’t forgive me.” His voice was no louder than feathers on grass stems. “Everything I did … I just wanted my family back.”

  His sorrow tugged
at me. I didn’t know what to say. Didn’t know what to feel. It was hard to stay still. I thought of the Taken, all captives to the Mage … Were foxes no better than the furless with their beast dens? Than the snatchers who rounded up foxes to be killed? Pain pinched at my chest when I remembered the foxes in those cages. I’d escaped, but I’d left them behind. I couldn’t help, I told myself. There was nothing I could do. My thoughts echoed Haiki’s words.

  My body still trembled with maa. I sprang to my paws. “Before we confront the Mage, we must free the Taken.”

  “Free them?” murmured Haiki in disbelief. He lowered his paws from his eyes. “That’s not possible. They don’t even want freedom. They aren’t like us.”

  “They were once,” I said. “They could be again.” I sensed Siffrin tense at my side. As the words slipped out of my mouth, I knew they were right. “We need to find a tree.”

  “A tree? We’re in a forest,” said Haiki slowly.

  Siffrin shifted beside me. His thick coat brushed my shoulder. “A red tree,” he said. “Huge, ancient with heavy branches.”

  I glanced at him and he met my gaze. His amber eyes gleamed. He was pleached once.

  “The tree that weeps,” said Haiki. “Like the one next to the Elder Rock?”

  “Exactly.” I rose to my paws. Maa was rushing through my limbs. “A blood-bark tree. I know there must be one in the Deep Forest.”

  Tao cocked his head. “Why do you want it?”

  My gaze was fixed on Haiki. “Do you know where it is?”

  Haiki ran his tongue over his muzzle. “Follow me.”

  We clambered between the pointed briars, deeper into the forest. The call of the gloaming struggled against the suffocating pall of the Mage’s yellow dust. Sadness washed over me. So many foxes lost. Ma, Fa, Greatma … Rupus, Flint, Karo, Mox … Far beyond the dust and knotting branches, the stars still shone. The moon rose over the Wildlands. But down on the forest floor, there were only shadows.

  Several times I paused as the others watched me, murmuring the pashanda chant.

  “Can you hear the Taken?” asked Siffrin.

  I dipped my head in acknowledgment. I could hear further, see deeper than the others, now that I pulsed with the Elders’ maa. “Too many to count.” My tail twitched anxiously. “Most are behind us. They know we’re in the forest but they haven’t found us yet.”